Top 40 one-off F1 liveries - Part 3

After the success of last year's top 50 liveries countdown, we present you the Winter Olympics of the F1 world, the one off-liveries. 

Pre-season testing often presents great hype and interest about which teams, if any, will run special edition liveries in its honour. 

We selected 44 designs, before further cutting down to 40 liveries. Here's the third part.
 
Rules - liveries must only be used for one race/occasion per chassis. Any livery, which appears on multiple cars but uses the same basic design and is only used at one event per chassis, is allowed, although shall be grouped.

30. Red Bull Racing - Wings for Life Fan Car 2007 British GP

While I’d never say I was opposed to a charity livery, or one that got the fans interacting with the sport, or raising money for a good cause, it’s just a shame that F1’s party team Red Bull got the look of this car so wrong. The white base just does not work with the Bull logos to the point it looks like someone has stickered over a broken shell of an F1 car. The only saving grace that has ranked it so high is it’s good cause and that is at least is more creative than some we have seen thus far. 

29. Scuderia Ferrari - 1998 Test

Ferrari and red - a combination that goes hand in hand. And bar the yellow car from the 1960s we saw earlier and a famous political stand against Italy with the blue Ferrari’s again in the 1960s, we have only ever seem Ferraris with mostly red on. Correct? Well, think again. In 1998 a Ferrari private test involved the then double world champion Michael Schumacher driving a plain Ferrari in an all too different colour. The fact it is so different makes it so desirable and actually earns its high rank on this list. 

28. Renault F1 Team - 2002 Pre-Season Test
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When Renault bought out the successful Benetton and once more became a factory team they ran a livery in homage to the Renault cars of the 70s and 80s. Unfortunately bereft of sponsors, yellow and white didn’t quite work, certainly not in the shades and patterns showed in this car. Like the Red Bull, bonus points for creativity and tradition, although I recommend a check for colour blindness for whoever signed off this Livery. 

27. Jordan F1 Team - 2003 Pre-Season Test. 

Very similar to the Ferrari. So well liked as ktsmso different, but is it really any nicer than the yellow and black hornet? I think not. 

26. Super Aguri F1 Team - 2006 Pre-Season Test
I suppose it’s harsh to score a new team poorly with their first ever livery at their first test. The problem here is that it’s just boring. White with a black wing doesn’t set the world alight. Points for having slightly more than one colour and given the fact they were using a four year old Arrows chassis (which was uncompetitive when it was at least modern), it’s a bonus they showed up. Further kudos for outing parent team Honda’s traditional white, although as seen later in this chart and by a search in Google, red can go a long way. 

​Join us later this week as we continue our countdown of the top 40 and see where your favourite ranks. Comment your predictions for number 1 below or check the part 1 and part 2 of the series.

by Matthew Gannon